20-year-old Angel Ceballos, of grand Prairie, suffered fatal injuries after his motorcycle collided with a tractor trailer in the 700 block of South Belt Line Road (near Interstate 30) shortly before 8:00 p.m. on Saturday evening.

According to police, 30-year-old Jesse Merchant was towing a 42-foot trailer southbound on Belt Line Road (just south of I-30) when he attempted to make an unprotected left turn into a RaceTrac gas station near Tarrant Road.

20-year-old Angel Ceballos, who police say was riding a Harley-Davidson Dyna motorcycle northbound on Belt Line Road, collided into Merchant’s truck as it crossed over the northbound lanes of traffic. Ceballos was transported to a local hospital, but unfortunately died of his injuries.

Police say that the truck driver was operating without a license, and had failed to yield the right of way to Ceballos. Merchant was subsequently arrested and charged with manslaughter. He’s currently being held in the Grand Prairie jail.

If you would like to donate to the Ceballos family, visit this link.

A tragedy like this should have simply never taken place. An unlicensed driver should never be behind the wheel of a tractor trailer, and if this was a commercial truck, I have to wonder how this was even allowed to occur. Trucking companies are often held vicariously liable for accidents like this, especially if it can be shown that they failed to do their due diligence when vetting their drivers.

Unfortunately, motorcycle accidents caused by another vehicle’s failure to yield are quite common in Texas. In fact, almost half (42%) of all fatal motorcycle accidents involving another vehicle are caused by drivers failing to yield when making unprotected left turns.

If nothing else, please use this as a reminder to always look twice for motorcyclists—and especially at intersections.